Telescopes and space missions

Grade 9 Science Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. 1.

   Four plan cards, labeled A to D. Esme plans to study faint, cool dust clouds that glow in far infrared. Which plan fits?

   • A radio dish, since infrared is radio
   • A cooled infrared telescope in space
   • A visible-light telescope on a mountain
   • A small telescope flown closer to the clouds
2. 2.

   NASA: Voyager 1 is near one light-day from Earth, more than 16 billion miles. If the team sends a command, when will they see the reply, by Jun's math?

   • About 16 billion seconds
   • About 1 day
   • About 2 days
   • At once
3. 3.

   1 light-day ≈ 2.6 × 10¹⁰ km; 1 AU ≈ 1.5 × 10⁸ km. About how many AU is one light-day (about 2.6 × 10¹⁰ km), using 1 AU ≈ 1.5 × 10⁸ km, by Kira's math?

   • About 17,300 AU
   • About 1.7 AU
   • About 0.006 AU
   • About 173 AU
4. 4.

   Luz's friend says space telescopes are better because they are closer to the stars. Which response is best (NASA)?

   • Disagree: they gain by being above the air, not by being closer
   • Disagree: ground telescopes see each kind of light just as clearly
   • Agree: Hubble flies near the stars
   • Agree: each kilometer up helps a lot
5. 5.

   Two mirrors, one twice as wide, with areas shaded. Milo's cousin says doubling a mirror's width doubles the light it gathers. Which response is best?

   • Disagree: mirror size does not matter
   • Agree: and doubling again gives 3 times
   • Disagree: twice as wide gathers 4 times the light
   • Agree: light grows with width
6. 6.

   Noah's friend says Mission Control can steer a Mars rover live, like a video game. Which response is best?

   • Agree: the delay is under a second
   • Disagree: signals take minutes each way, so commands are planned
   • Agree: radio reaches Mars at once
   • Disagree: rovers get no commands
7. 7.

   Hubble, 2.4 m, orbiting Earth, about 560 km up; Webb, 6.5 m, orbiting the Sun, 1.5 million km from Earth. Compare Webb's distance from Earth (1.5 million km) with Hubble's height (about 560 km). About how many times farther is Webb, by Pia's math?

   • About 27 times
   • About 2,700 times
   • About the same distance
   • About 270,000 times
8. 8.

   Light gathered grows with diameter squared. A team wants images 4 times as bright from faint galaxies. By how much must the mirror's diameter grow, by Ren's math?

   • Twice the diameter
   • 4 times the diameter
   • 16 times the diameter
   • It cannot be done
9. 9.

   Four mission cards, labeled A to D. Which pairing of mission and type is right, by Zee's reading?

   • Voyager 1: a lander
   • Perseverance on Mars: an orbiter
   • Hubble: a Mars rover
   • New Horizons at Pluto: a flyby
10. 10.

    Voyager 1 launched in 1977 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and is still sending data (NASA). Why does a one-light-day distance make every command a careful plan, by Bo's reading?

    • Voyager is just a few hundred km away
    • Voyager is a rover on Mars
    • Commands arrive at once
    • Each command takes a day to arrive, and the reply a day to return